After Madison's ABC 27 News unearthed a story Tuesday that a textbook used by UW-Madison Professor Kevin Barrett is politically charged and includes an essay comparing President Bush to Hitler, state legislators again decried Barrett's UW-Madison lecturer position.
State Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, called for the immediate termination of Barrett in a release Tuesday.
""For the UW administration to stand by and defend this individual who is using an anti-Semitic textbook as required reading is atrocious,"" Suder said. ""It's an affront to taxpayers and it's an outrage both statewide and nationally. It's time for lecturer Barrett to go.""
According to Khalid Abdulraheem, UW-Madison junior and student in Barrett's ""Islam: Religion and Culture"" class, Barrett's classroom lectures have not been politically charged at all.
""The stuff we're talking about in class really has no connection to any of the controversy he's been involved in,"" Abdulraheem said. ""He's stuck very closely to the syllabus. He tries pretty hard during class to keep his biases out of the lectures.""
Barrett, who said he believes the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were an inside job orchestrated by the U.S. government, has had much controversy surrounding his outside classroom lectures on the UW-Madison campus that discuss this viewpoint.
UW-Madison Provost Patrick Farrell said anyone in the general public can request the use of university facilities for a lecture as long as they have a UW-Madison department sponsor them based on the belief of the presentation having educational value.
""He didn't take advantage of his position of teaching a course here at UW-Madison,"" Farrell said. ""He approached it like any member of the general public would.""
Farrell said he doesn't think these forums are enough to fire Barrett.
""He's expressing his opinion, he's entitled to express his opinion—it may be one that a lot of people do not agree with... but he certainly has that right,"" Farrell said.
State Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, said he sees a larger issue than Barrett in the state Legislature attempting to control university curriculum.
""I think even if the university makes a decision that a legislator doesn't agree with, the long-term harm from legislators trying to dictate what's taught in a classroom or what professors can say is much greater than any harm that might come about by what's said by one part-time lecturer in one class during one semester,"" Black said.
